Thinking about pushing your work to the side, firing up the
PlayStation and getting a little "Call of Duty" in before heading to
work tomorrow?

If Bill Belichick happens to be your boss, you may want to
reconsider.

The New England Patriots system is designed to expose those who aren't
fully prepared, but Belichick leaves nothing to chance and recently explained
that he keeps everyone honest by giving pop quizzes during team meetings.

"We give them written tests or tests on the screen so their
teammates can see that they're prepared, they're ready for the game, they're
ready for these situations that we've covered," Belichick said during his
speech at the "Sports Medicine and the NFL: The Playbook for 2013" symposium at the Sheraton Boston Hotel this weekend.

While high school and college students often meet pop
quizzes or tests with prolonged groans and pleads for exoneration, Patriots players take these things as seriously as Belichick, and police the unprepared.

Last year, after a few unsatisfactory film sessions,
quarterback Tom Brady called out teammates suspected of partaking
in extracurricular activities instead of fully focusing on the upcoming
opponent.

"We're just trying to prioritize our time," Brady
said. "We don't have much of it, so ... hopefully
everyone is spending their time wisely, not playing video games and stuff like
that."

Everyone has been there, though, up on the
screen, made an example of. Sometimes it's a player being criticized before he
makes a mistake; for others, it comes after the fact.

Legend has it Belichick showed the same clip
of center Dan Koppen missing an assignment for two years. Running back Stevan
Ridley has had to watch film of his fumbles more times than he cares to
remember. Former Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch can tell countless stories
about his turns on the screen.

No one is immune. When fullback Heath Evans
landed in New England in 2005, he was coming from a system in Seattle where
coach Mike Holmgren protected his stars. He was shocked the first time
Belichick put Brady up on the screen and tore into him for his decision-making.

But those sessions are essential to New England's
success. It's no surprise Belichick's teams seem to always be prepared for
any contingency and run one of the most complicated systems in the NFL with
precision. The Patriots are also always among the least-penalized teams, another nod to the high level of preparation that goes
into each week.

It all comes down to doing your job. And just
like in high school or college, proving you are prepared to do that job starts
with passing a written test. The only difference is that in those situations, a
stray mark on a Scantron won't lead to public scorn.